The following is a sneak peek from our July issue, heading to newsstands soon.
In their back dining room, co-owners Andrew Manning, Megan Fitzroy Phelan and Patrick Phelan will offer a chef's tasting menu. (Photo by Ash Daniel)
“We thrive on the connection to the diner,” Patrick Phelan is saying, as he puts the finishing touches on his new restaurant.
Phelan is one of the three owners — along with Megan Fitzroy Phelan, his wife, and Andrew Manning, his co-chef — of Longoven, the one-time pop-up that they have been waiting to make a brick-and-mortar.
That moment is at hand, I can attest, having been given an exclusive preview of the Scott’s Addition space June 11.
The first thing to know, food fiends, is that the restaurant will be a kind of two-in-one, with two different dining experiences housed in the same space — a first for the city.
The back room will be the tasting room, in which diners will put themselves into the talented, experimental hands of the three chefs. Tasting menus have long been a mark of a restaurant’s ambition. Nationally acclaimed restaurants such as Komi, in Washington, D.C., and The Catbird Seat, in Nashville, exclusively offer such menus. In recent years, tasting menus have been a source of controversy, with some food writers complaining about the high prices and control-freak egotism on display.
It will be interesting to see how Longoven is received — whether, like Komi, it will endear itself to diners as intimate and rewarding, or whether it will come across as showoff-y and cerebral, more for the pleasure of the chefs than the diners.
In its early DIY incarnation at Sub Rosa Bakery, Longoven was definitely intimate and rewarding. So winning was it that Bon Appetit came calling, anointing the would-be restaurant as one of the country’s best new restaurants in 2016.
But the transition from lovable indie to much-hyped major label debut can be fraught, and though there is a ready-made audience that has eagerly awaited its arrival, that audience is small, representing only a fraction of the city.
What is not in doubt is that a great deal of work has gone into this project.
Walking in, the restaurant feels somehow timeless. Concrete walls, a neutral palette, wood accents. Everything is crisp and modern — a hallmark of the design aesthetic of Fultz & Singh Architects. (Chris Fultz also co-owns ZZQ Texas Craft Barbeque, a crisp and modern space that debuted around the corner in March.)
There are 32 seats in the front room, along with a 12-seat bar devoted to Old World wines and classic cocktails.
At first glance, it appears the front room is the entire restaurant; the illusion is only slowly revealed as you step farther inside.
“When people come in the first room,” says Patrick Phelan, “they say, ‘Oh this is the restaurant,’ and then you walk to the back and it transforms into a completely different space.”
The front room is meant for a la carte dining. Here, the menu is divided into two parts, with six to eight items in each section. Part one features dishes that are more acidic and fresh, with vegetal flavors and raw applications, while part two is focused on bolder, more savory flavors.
The tasting room in the back is intended, says Phelan, for diners who want to “go down the rabbit hole” — adventurous, open-minded eaters who are eager and willing to be taken for a culinary ride via the six to eight courses.
In order to dine in the back, guests must purchase chefs' tasting menu tickets (a ticket will be $80 to $110 depending on season and courses) through the site Tock; no walk-ins are allowed. Tickets are available for purchase about a week in advance, and the tasting menu is only offered Thursday through Saturday. The tasting room will cater to dietary restrictions, and Phelan hopes that it will soon be able to accommodate vegans.
The rear room is a marked contrast to the front, with carpeting, darker woods and dimmed lighting. Tables sit alongside the open kitchen, and diners can watch as dishes are garnished just an arm's length from their tables.
For fans of Longoven’s pop-ups, the 32-seat back room is reminiscent of that earlier experience.
In addition to the two Phelans and Manning, the culinary team includes Meredith Herrera, a pastry chef; Pablo Corralas from The NoMad in New York City; Dave Alinea from Dutch & Co.; and sous chef Zach Weiss from L’Opossum.
Phelan adds that it was the food world — its makers, its supporters — who sustained him and his partners through four strange and difficult years, which included the birth of the Phelans’ daughter at only 26 weeks, the death of Manning’s father and an exhaustive search for the right location.
“We got to a point where we thought maybe we're not meant to have a restaurant here in Richmond,” Phelan says. “But in our community there were people who said, 'Don’t stop, just keep pushing.' ”
They did.
And now the payoff is at hand — hard as it is to believe.
“I’m like, I’m driving to our restaurant,” Phelan says, awestruck but smiling. “It doesn’t feel quite real.”
Longoven opens in June and will be closed on Sundays and Mondays and open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
